Foot Zone History

For a millennium, man has recognized healing reactions that occur when certain points on the feet are triggered. This is evident by historical documentation, both written and oral, found all around the world. One of the most impressive images of ancient foot zoning can be found on the walls of a tomb in Egypt dating back to 2500 B.C. showing the physician using healing techniques through the hands and feet.

In modern times, foot zone technique has its roots in reflexology. A young man, Dr. Charles Ersdal from Norway, suffered paralysis of the left side. After undergoing modern medical treatments with no results, he turned to Einar Svendsen, a chiropractor and reflexologist for help. Svendsen worked with Ersdal using reflexology for two years, and he was finally brought back to good health.

This event in Ersdal’s life gave him the ambition to attend the European College of Natural Medicine in Germany. He studied alternative modalities including herbology, chiropractic treatment, reflexology, and other healing modalities, where he earned his M.A. Because Ersdal was cured but others undergoing the same treatment were not, he questioned why reflexology didn’t work for everyone.

Over the next twenty-six years, Ersdal devoted his life to the study of anatomy and physiology, and through further inspiration he discovered additional signals and developed treatments on the feet relating to all of the major organs and systems in the body which had not been used with reflexology. He treated thousands of patients in clinical studies with a myriad of conditions, developing over a hundred pathology charts relating to the zone. But before charting anything, he verified these acupressure points on hundreds of patients to assure accuracy of his charts.

Dr. Ersdal was convinced by his research and inspiration that the body needed to be treated in its entirety. This assertion went against just treating the symptomatic areas, which was the main focus of reflexology at that time. Ersdal named his technique Foot Zone Therapy. He opened the Center for Alternative Medicine in Kristiansand, Norway. Because of his life’s work, Dr. Ersdal and his Foot Zone Therapy method became famous in Europe and throughout the world. Over the past 20 years, reflexology charts have evolved to more closely resemble Dr. Ersdal’s Foot Zone Therapy charts which included all sides of the feet, and lower part of the legs.